Columbus @ Toronto 6-0 - Ryan Johansen scored twice and added an assist, Ryan Murray had a goal and an assist, and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all 18 shots he faced to lead Columbus to an impressive 6-0 win. Cam Atkinson broke a scoreless tie at 10:18 of the opening period. With the teams at even strength, Artem Anisimov sent a pass from behind the net in front to Matt Calvert, who backhanded to Atkinson for the easy tap-in past Maple Leafs goalie James Reimer. It was Atkinson's sixth goal of the season. R.J. Umberger doubled the Blue Jackets' lead 18 seconds later with his sixth goal of the season. Ryan Murray carried the puck around the Maple Leafs net and fired a quick shot that was denied by Reimer, but Umberger was able to poke the rebound home to make it 2-0. James van Riemsdyk had Toronto's best chance of the first period, one-timing Phil Kessel's feed through Bobrovsky's pads, but the puck trickled just wide of the Columbus net. The Blue Jackets continued to generate offense in the second period. Jack Skille scored his first goal of the season at 3:07, when he came down on a 2-on-1 with Mark Letestu, took the latter's feed and ripped it from the left circle past Reimer to give Columbus a 3-0 lead. Murray made it 4-0 at 6:25 of the second via the power play. After Jake Gardiner was whistled for hooking, James Wisniewski sent a pass from the left circle to the slot for Murray, who fired a shot past Reimer for this third goal of the season. It also gave Murray his first multipoint game in the NHL. Johansen scored the first of his two goals 9:05 into the third period. Nick Foligno collected a loose puck at the Blue Jackets blue line, which created a 2-on-1 the other way. Foligno then carried the puck into the Maple Leafs zone and sent a cross-ice feed to Johansen, who one-timed it past Reimer to make it 5-0. Johansen scored again, this time on the power play, 2:19 later, ending Reimer's night. He finished with 15 saves on 21 shots. Foligno again picked up the primary assist, his second of the game. Anisimov was forced to leave the game with 9:10 remaining in the third period following a hit from Maple Leafs defenseman Dion Phaneuf. Anisimov was carrying the puck through the neutral zone when he was struck by Toronto's captain, who was given a two-minute penalty for an illegal check to the head.
Winnipeg @ New Jersey 3-1 - Mark Scheifele scored his first goal in 25 games, Evander Kane connected for his first goal in 12, and Devin Setoguchi scored into an empty net, his first goal in eight games for the Jets (11-11-4), who opened a six-game road trip through the Eastern Conference. New Jersey broke through on Pavelec midway through the third period to pull within 2-1 when Patrik Elias had a marvelous backhand redirect from the high slot. Andy Greene took the shot from the left point that Elias tipped for his fifth goal of the season and second in two games at 10:44. The Jets opened a 2-0 lead when Kane scored his seventh of the season 7:16 into the second period. Two seconds earlier, a video replay was needed to determine that a Kane shot was stopped by Brodeur and didn't cross the goal line. Following the review, Olli Jokinen won an offensive-zone draw against Travis Zajac that banked off the half boards to Kane at the top of the left circle. Kane swept a shot short side on Brodeur. The Devils nearly pared the margin while shorthanded with seven minutes left in the second when Elias took a pass from Adam Henrique and lined a shot that rang off the right post. Winnipeg opened a 1-0 lead when Scheifele scored his first goal since the season opener from the right hash over the glove of Brodeur at 16:01. Michael Frolik took a pass from Dustin Byfuglien and skated down his left wing before sending a hard pass to Scheifele after crossing the blue line.
NY Rangers @ Tampa Bay 0-5 - Nikita Kucherov didn't waste much time making his presence felt in his first NHL game. It took 32 seconds to score his first goal on his first shot on his first shift at 2:12 of the first period, when he slipped away from a defender, took a pass from Purcell and blasted the puck from the right faceoff circle off Lundqvist's stick and into the net. Less than a minute later, it was Martin St. Louis' turn. Filppula's pass sent him in alone on the Rangers net and he flipped a shot over Lundqvist to make it 2-0 3:10 into the game. St. Louis' second goal came at 3:12 of the second period, when Valtteri Filppula's outlet pass sent him between two Ranger defenders and in alone on goalie Henrik Lundqvist. St. Louis picked the upper right corner of the net to extend the Lightning's lead to 3-0. Tampa Bay killed off 58 seconds of a 5-on-3 when Alex Killorn and B.J. Crombeen drew penalties less than a minute apart. In total, the Rangers had the man advantage six times during which they generated 12 shots. In the past 19 games, the Lightning have killed off 60 of their past 65 penalties. Purcell found a loose puck in the neutral zone and eased down the right side of the Rangers zone before scoring on a wrist shot for his first of the game. The unassisted goal came with 3:08 remaining in the second period and sent the Lightning to intermission with a 4-0 lead. Purcell would also add number five. Cam Talbot replaced Lundqvist at the beginning of the third period. Lundqvist finished with 18 saves on 22 shots. Once the Lightning (15-8-1) had established a quick two-goal lead, the spotlight fell on Bishop. The Rangers outshot Tampa Bay 17-10 in the first period, and several of New York's shots were outstanding scoring opportunities, including a point-blank slap shot from Anton Stralman that Bishop snared with his glove.
Philadelphia @ Florida 1-3 - Twenty-nine seconds after the end of Florida's second penalty, Sean Bergenheim opened the scoring at 3:35 of the second after a persistent effort around the Philadelphia net. Bergenheim first tried a wrap-around with his forehand, then a wrist shot from the side of the net, and finally a wrap-around to his backhand, with the puck sliding in between Mason and the post. Panthers defenseman Dylan Olsen and forward Jimmy Hayes, the players acquired in the trade that sent forward Kris Versteeg to the Chicago Blackhawks on Nov. 14, had the assists. Olsen was playing his first game for Florida after being recalled from San Antonio of the American Hockey League on Sunday. Bergenheim made it 2-0 at 13:59 of the second when he scored on the second of back-to-back power plays. He was standing in front of the net when he tipped Marcel Goc's wrist shot from inside the top of the left circle. Wayne Simmonds cut into the Florida lead with a power-play goal at 7:06 of the third period when he put home a rebound after Thomas stopped Scott Hartnell's one-timer from the slot. Florida defenseman Erik Gudbranson scored his first goal of the season with 4:08 left in the third period. It was the third of Gudbranson's three-year NHL career and his first since Dec. 27, 2011, snapping a 100-game drought. The insurance goal came when his slap shot from the point bounced off Flyers goalie Steve Mason and over his shoulder before rolling into the net.
Minnesota @ St Louis 0-3 - Minnesota thought it had a 1-0 lead 30 seconds into the game when Parise tipped Ryan Suter's shot from the left point past Halak. But the goal was immediately waved off, the call being that Parise's stick was above the crossbar, and after a lengthy review, it was determined video was inconclusive. Taking advantage of the review ruling going in their favor, the Blues jumped out a 1-0 lead on Sobotka’s goal 50 seconds later. Sobotka collected the rebound off Carlo Colaiacovo’s shot from inside the blue line and beat Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom. It was Colaiacovo's first point in his first shift since signing with St. Louis as a free agent Nov. 12. He played since defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk was out with the flu. The Blues were doing a solid job getting shots from the point and putting bodies in front of Backstrom early in the game, and Steen benefited with his first goal in five games when he took in Jay Bouwmeester's shot from the left point and beat Backstrom with a backhand upstairs at 13:38 of the first period. Steen’s first goal gave the Blues a 2-0 lead. The middle period saw no scoring, but Halak made a key point-blank stop on Zenon Konopka with 1:49 left off a rebound at the top of the crease, and the Blues' Jaden Schwartz, off a 3-on-2 rush, rang a shot off the left post with 15 seconds remaining. Chris Stewart had a big chance to extend the Blues' 2-0 lead 2:15 into the third period, but he pushed his backhand breakaway high and wide. Steen's empty-netter with 1:22 remaining sealed the Blues' victory. It moved him within two points of Sidney Crosby for the overall League-lead in points. It was St. Louis' only shot of the third period after the Wild applied ample amount of pressure.
Los Angeles @ Vancouver 3-2 OT - The Kings ensured themselves one point when Mike Richards tied the game with 2:54 left in the third period, then added the second when Anze Kopitar scored 48 seconds into overtime for a 3-2 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena. Los Angeles was outshot 39-22, but goalie Ben Scrivens kept it close and Kopitar won it after defenseman Slava Voynov pounced on a Kevin Bieksa turnover behind the Vancouver net. Voynov centered the puck to Kopitar alone in the left slot, and the veteran center quickly fired it up and over Roberto Luongo's shoulder on the far side. Kyle Clifford opened the scoring for the Kings, who moved six points ahead of fourth-place Vancouver and four ahead of the Phoenix Coyotes in the tight Pacific Division. The Canucks have lost seven of eight games, scoring nine goals in the losses. Defenseman Christopher Tanev scored his first of the season with 2:56 left in the second period to tie the game, and the power play finally connected on its eighth chance when Henrik Sedin one-timed a scramble pass from Daniel Sedin past Scrivens. Despite outshooting their opponent, badly at times, in six of the past seven games, the Canucks have one win, in large part because of untimely breakdowns. Coach John Tortorella pleaded in the morning not to abandon their defensive responsibilities chasing scoring chances, but Vancouver gave up a half-dozen odd-man rushes in the opening period. The Kings' fourth line opened the scoring on a 2-on-1 break that ended with a tap-in goal for Clifford, who was playing his second game back after missing six with an upper-body injury. Vancouver had plenty of chances to tie the game on the power play, especially after a big hit by Kings forward Jordan Nolan on Henrik Sedin sparked a run of rough play, post-whistle scrums and a spirited fight between Nolan, who was back after missing four with an undisclosed injury, and defenseman Ryan Stanton. The Canucks were outshooting the Kings 11-1 in the second period when Tanev scored his third career goal in his 118th NHL game. Henrik Sedin put the Canucks ahead 2-1 on a power play seven minutes into the third period, but they couldn't hold on. Jeff Carter, back after missing 10 games with a broken foot, got the puck behind the net and fed it to an open Richards atop the crease for a quick shot between Luongo's legs. The goal came 12 seconds after Scrivens made three great saves on a Canucks rush, kicking out the right pad to rob Jannik Hansen after David Booth took the puck hard to the net on a backhand, then laying down to keep out two Ryan Kesler whacks at the rebound. It would have been over a lot sooner if not for Scrivens and a penalty kill that kept the Canucks from converting its first seven chances, including a two-man advantage and a pair of 4-on-3s. Scrivens, who came in leading the NHL with a .946 save percentage and 1.37 goals-against average, credited his teammates, singling out defenseman Robyn Regehr for a pair of blocked shots against hard-shooting Vancouver point man Jason Garrison.
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